Teleporting in an online shooter is usually a sign someone is cheating. But it’s a sight you’ll have to get accustomed to when playing Valorant’s OMEN. He’s basically a combination of Corvo from Dishonored and Raven from Teen Titans. But how useful is this agent? How can you best utilize OMEN’s abilities and help your team to victory? Let’s explore his adumbral powers and see how you can use them.
Basic Ability – Paranoia
This aptly named tool clouds the view of whoever is unfortunate enough to get hit by it. The agents affected by this ability aren’t able to see what’s more than a few steps in front of them. It costs 200 credits. The effect lasts about 3 seconds. In a shooter, blinding your enemies in such a way can easily be the difference between life or death, making OMEN and his Paranoia ability a very useful to have on your team when pushing. You’ll know whether or not the enemy is affected by the cloud-like effect on their face.
The Paranoia charge looks like a magic spell. It’s cast with OMEN’s hands, meaning you can’t use your firearms while casting and you’ll have to stop while it’s being fired. The charge penetrates through walls. You can see its trajectory on the mini-map. Since you can fire from behind cover, its best to coordinate with your teammates and support them during pushes. Don’t get too close to the enemies, as they can still a few steps in front of them when hit with Paranoia.
Bear in mind that you’ll have to aim the charge and the radius isn’t huge. You can easily miss the enemy team players. Communicate with your team and make sure you know where the hostiles are before firing off. Cover is important, so learn the popular hiding spots. Mind the cooldown and cause some paranoia!
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Basic Ability – Shrouded Step
This is a very cool tool at OMEN’s disposal. It works very similarly to the Blink power from Dishonored. You just pick the spot where you want to teleport and you’ll go there. You can skip between cover, free from enemy fire. Shrouded Step is great for getting cool angles and avoiding exposure to danger. It costs 100 credits.
One of the ability’s major weaknesses is its lack of speed, the fact you can’t use your weapons during the buildup time and that enemies hear an audio que when you activate it. There’s also a short cooldown before you can fire your weapon. Meaning it’s not too useful for sneaking around, jumping when an enemy has a direct line of sight or to push too aggressively. As with most abilities, it’s best to use it strategically.
Rely on your teammates to provide suppressive fire and tell you where to Shroud step. That way, the enemy team will be distracted while you’re getting new angles of fire. The ability has a certain verticality to it, meaning you can use it to climb obstacles, such as crates and windows. It’s a great way to use OMEN’s adumbral nature and establish unexpected ambushes. It all depends on your creativity with this power.
Special Ability – Dark Cover
OMEN’s aesthetics as a mysterious assassin make this ability quite fitting. Dark Cover is kind of like a smoke grenade, it provides a thick layer of dark matter that blocks vision. But instead of throwing it, you cast it on the ground, similar to the Shrouded Step ability. The main difference is the great range of fire and the fact you cast it across walls. It costs 300 credits.
So, here’s how you use Dark Cover – watch the mini-map to see exactly where your smoke screen will materialize. Adjust the distance with your action/ability keys. Look for narrow chokepoints or other positions of interest that may assist your team. Position yourself in a way where your target is in range. Once you launch Dark Cover, it may need a few seconds to reach its destination (its trajectory is marked on your map.)
OMEN’s Dark Cover detonates on the floor, meaning you’ll have to be familiar with the map. If you’re not careful, you may launch the smokescreen on a crate, which will not benefit your team or prevent your enemy’s field of vision. Watch the terrain. Use it wisely and make sure you’re hitting what you’re aiming at.
Ultimate Ability – From the Shadows
Perhaps OMEN’s creepiest ability, From the Shadows is a power that allows him to teleport anywhere on the map. This can create a lot of great flanking possibilities for you and your team. It requires 7 ultimate points to use. When you’re teleporting, the enemy teamwill receive a visual warning of the exact location. They see a shadow character model.
By firing, they can prevent you from teleporting. You can make sure that doesn’t happen by combining Dark Cover and From the Shadows. Just teleport where you’ve fired the Dark Cover. Alternatively, you can coordinate with Brimstone or other agents and use their cover abilities. Of course, that has the added danger of letting the enemies know the area in which you’ll teleport, but not exactly where to shoot.
Enemies can also wait for you to teleport and just destroy you once you’re there. It’s a high-risk, high-reward strategy and that’s what makes Valorant such a fun game. Use From the Shadows to strike, well, as the name says – from the shadows. Flank you enemies, use Dark Cover, talk to your teammates and attack when your opponents least expect it.
OMEN gives you great flexibility
If we have to use one word to describe this agent, it would be sneaky. That’s what makes this agent so fun to play. Mind where the enemy is looking, and try to subvert your expectations by being in their blind spot. Talk to your enemies, give cover and provide support from the shadows. That’s what OMEN is great at and that’s how he’s best used.
